Tufts prepares for bounce-back season

Although the men's basketball team is coming off a year in which it went only 4-6 and snuck into the NESCAC playoffs as the No. 7 seed, those numbers belie the promise that the 2014-2015 season holds.

Last season, the expectations were set high for a Jumbos team that had finished 7-3 in the NESCAC a year earlier, and was losing only three seniors. Last season, however, turned sour quickly as Tufts was ravaged by injuries. Most notably, center Tom Palleschi, a sophomore at the time, received news that he might never be able to play again due to a heart condition. In addition, injuries to guard Ben Ferris, a junior at the time, and guard Tommy Folliard (LA '14), along with the departure of guard C.J. Moss, a junior at the time, left Tufts with a much different roster than it expected entering the season.

Fast forward a year, and all the parts appear to finally be in place. Palleschi, who is still classified as a sophomore, has made a miraculous return to the court, and Ferris is back to full health. Although the Jumbos lost key senior leadership in point guard Oliver Cohen (LA '14), shooting guard Kwame Firempong (LA' 14), forward Andrew Dowton (LA' 14) and Folliard, the younger corps they will feature this year should have no problem stepping into a bigger role.

Guards

The loss of Cohen, who finished third in the NESCAC last year with 4.92 assists, is not an easy one to overcome. Cohen was a big stabilizing force for the team on and off the court.

This year, it will be sophomore point guard Tarik Smith who will be in the driver's seat of the potent Tufts offense. Smith's explosive off-the-bounce game and ability to finish in traffic are stark contrasts to the game-manager style of Cohen. Coming off the bench last season, Smith was used more for his ability to create instant offense, and one of the biggest determinants of how far the Jumbos can go this year will be Smith's ability to control the tempo of the game while also effectively utilizing his athleticism and quickness.

"We're not going to hold Tarik back," coach Bob Sheldon said. "We don't want him to be like Oliver, we want him to be like Tarik. We want him to use his explosiveness, get to the basket and make his open shots. We want him to be a scoring point guard and a distributor too ... we kind of gave [Tarik] the keys to the car and told him 'drive us.'"

Wings

The wing position has been a point of emphasis for the Jumbos this offseason. In addition to the dynamic one-two punch of Ferris and junior tri-captain Stephen Haladyna, the Jumbos have brought in a number of rangy swingmen who could contribute serious minutes off the bench.

Ferris in particular will play an important role, as not only one of the team's best scorers (12.0 PPG last season), but as the only four-year senior on the team (senior guard Adam Zakaria transferred from UMass-Amherst before his junior year).

"My biggest role on the team in the Fall, and especially now, has been trying to be the definitive leader," Ferris said. "I've really tried to embrace the role [of the senior captain] and make sure I'm getting the best out of everyone in terms of whatever they're doing, and really push them in that sense."

The biggest reason that Ferris can focus more on his role as a leader on the team is due to the depth the team has at the position. Haladyna came into his own last year, averaging 12.4 points per game, including a 23-point outburst in Tufts' final regular season game against Bowdoin that helped send Tufts into the NESCAC tournament.

Junior swingman Ryan Spadaford, who transferred from Navy, should also give the team a spark off the bench with his sharpshooting. The biggest contributions should come from the freshmen class though, as Sheldon made the wing position a priority in his search to strengthen the position following the departures of Ferris, and then Haladyna in two years.

First-years Vinny Pace, Ben Engvall and Everett Dayton should all find their way into the rotation to start the year.

"We were going for [rangy wings] because Ben will be a senior, and then Hal [will be a senior the following year]," Sheldon said. "We went and got Vinny Pace, who has been very good since day one, and he's long, lanky and can score, and he's going to be a real good player. Everett Dayton is a combo guard who's going to play the wing, and Ben Engvall is kind of the opposite. Whereas Everett is a one and a two, Ben is a three and four, so those two are going to play together."

As is the case when a team has a glut of talent at a position, the biggest challenge for Sheldon and his staff will be figuring the best combinations and rotations of players.

"We have to find roles for everybody, and everybody has accepted them, and we've told [the players] to accept them and flourish in them, and enjoy the process," Sheldon said.

Forwards/Centers

While the wing position may be the deepest position on this team, it is the frontcourt for which most opponents will be game planning. The twin towers of Palleschi and sophomore Hunter Sabety should combine to be the best frontcourt in the conference, and in Sheldon's opinion, has the opportunity to be the best frontcourt in the country.

"We think Tommy and Hunter are the best frontcourt in Div. III," Sheldon said. "I'm not saying they're the best players, but I'm saying together [they're the best]. Hunter can do everything by the basket. Tommy can do everything by the basket and out. Hunter has developed his shot, so it's going to be tough."

Sheldon has not been afraid to make significant adjustments to the offense given the strength his team possesses inside, as he has worked on transitioning the team from the four-out and one-in system it played last year to a three-out and two-in offense this year.

"Our whole offense is pretty much focused around [Hunter and Tom]," Ferris said. "Our guards are really good shooters, so the coaches have been stressing 'shoot jumpshots' and make the defense have to play you out there so we take defenders away from the middle of the paint. That way [the defense] has to make a decision of who they're going to guard. It's mostly been predicated on having those two guys inside, and playing inside-out basketball."

Looking ahead

As the Jumbos continue to work on getting back to full health and rounding out their squad, their first test of the season will come this Saturday as they take on the Johnson & Wales Wildcats in Rhode Island. The game is the first step on a long road to where Tufts wants to be at the end of the year, and for now, Sheldon is trying to keep things simple for his team.

"We took all the numbers out of it and said 'let's play the best basketball we can' and see where that takes us and if it takes us to a ring then so be it," Sheldon said. "We're buying into the whole 'let's be Tufts' and 'let's have an identity out there of a solid defensive team that's going to run and pound it inside and get it to their bigs and make their outside shots.'"